An herbicide is found to contain only C, H, N, and Cl. The complete combustion of a 100.0-mg sample of the herbicide in excess oxygen produces 83.16 mL of CO₂ and 73.30 mL of H₂O vapor expressed at STP. A separate analysis shows that the sample also contains 16.44 mg of Cl. (c) What other information would you need to know about this compound to calculate its true molecular formula?

Video transcript

Hey everyone. Our question here tells us that an insecticide is only composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and chlorine were given the mass of our sample and the milliliters of our products. We're also told that our other tests tells us that we have 0. mg of chlorine were asked to determine the missing information that prevents us from determining our molecular formula. Now we've learned that our molecular formula tells us the number of atoms of each element present in our compound. So in order to answer this question, we need to go from our grams to our moles. And in order to get to the moles of our insecticide, we require the molar mass of our insecticide. So this is the missing information required to determine our molecular formula. So I hope this made sense. And let us know if you have any questions.